Mr Charlie McCreevy TD, Minister for Finance and Mr Philip Hamell, Chairperson of the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland (ECBI) today launched the National Plan for the changeover to euro cash from 1st January 2002 (e-day). The Plan was drawn up under the aegis of the ECBI and has been approved by the Government.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Hamell said the changeover would start with accounts in financial institutions being converted to euro on 1st January 2002; from then on, all cash going out would be in euro, with incoming Irish notes and coins being retained and not issued outwards again.

"The changeover will happen as people go about their normal business. As the Plan says, from 1st January 2002 people should continue to carry out their normal cash transactions, using their remaining Irish notes and coins first and acquiring euro notes and coins through one or more of the mechanisms outlined in the Plan. We envisage that the bulk of cash transactions will be made in euro by the end of two weeks from e-day," Mr Hamell said.

Briefly, the Plan envisages that:

Accounts in financial institutions will be converted to euro free of charge

Withdrawals from accounts will be in euro

ATMs will begin dispensing euro notes

Wages, salaries, pensions and social welfare payments will be in euro

Retailers will charge in euro. They will accept Irish notes and coins but will give change in euro only.

 

Ÿ Banks and building societies will exchange up to an overall total per individual of at least £500 worth of Irish notes and coins for euro, free of charge; and will continue to accept Irish notes and coins in customer lodgements.

 

Ÿ Post offices will exchange up to an overall total per individual of £500 worth of Irish notes and coins for euro, free of charge; and will continue to accept Irish notes and coins in customer lodgements.

 

Credit unions will where feasible exchange, for members, £500 worth per member of Irish notes and coin for euro free of charge, and will continue to accept Irish notes and coin in lodgements from members.

 

 

Ÿ Legal tender status will be withdrawn from Irish notes and coins

Ÿ Retailers will not be obliged to accept Irish notes and coins.

 

 

The Oireachtas has the final say as to when legal tender status should be withdrawn from Irish notes and coins. The Plan recommends that it should happen at midnight on Saturday 9 February 2002.

Cash exchange as set out above, and acceptance of lodgements of Irish notes and coins, by banks, building societies, post offices and credit unions will continue for a time after 9 February 2002. The Central Bank will of course continue indefinitely to give value in euro for Irish notes and coins.

The organisations involved in drawing up the Plan have included a specific commitment that they will carry out the changeover to the euro fairly and seek no advantage from the conversion.

Speaking at the launch of the Plan, the Minister thanked all the organisations involved in drawing it up for their co-operation and welcomed the fact that the Plan is being published now, nearly two years before the changeover begins.

"The arrival of notes and coins will make the euro tangible for everyone, and it is important that everyone knows how we intend to introduce them. The Government wants everyone to have plenty of time to prepare for their arrival. Businesses and retailers should now be intensifying their preparations so as to ensure that the changeover goes as smoothly as possible", he said.

Presenting the Plan to the Minister, Mr Hamell said the Plan is one of five important messages for everybody to get familiar with over the next 20 months. They are 1st January 2002 - the date for e-day; £0.787564 - the conversion rate - that is, one euro is worth just under 79p; building up a scale of euro values for everyday items such as those on weekly shopping lists; getting to know what euro notes and coins look like; and finding out how the changeover will work.

"With the publication of the Plan, all of this information will now be widely available. The more people familiarise themselves with these five messages, the easier the changeover to the euro will be in 2002", he said.

Mr Hamell also said people should start to look at how they were going to deal with Irish coins particularly. If people had coins lying around in drawers or jars, then they should start using them from now on and should continue to put their coins to use rather than leaving them aside.

The Cash Changeover Plan will be distributed widely to businesses and retailers via business, trade and professional organisations, and will also be printed as a document in the information pack of the Forfás EMU Business Awareness Campaign; and a summary leaflet will be prepared for distribution to every household in the country over the coming months. The Plan’s publication and widespread distribution should give a significant stimulus to business and retail preparation for the changeover.

As well as being distributed in hard copy, the Plan will be available on the ECBI website www.irlgov.ie/ecbi-euro and the Forfás website www.emuaware.forfas.ie

ENDS

19 April 2000